Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in doing so, you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
Romans 12:19-21 HCSB
When we are hurt by someone, it’s as if we are paying often times for something we didn’t do or don’t realize we did. Are we going to be better of if we forgive them or if we seek revenge?
Our flesh tells us to do unto others what they have done unto us, but the Bible tells us to do unto other as we want them to do unto us in Matthew 7:12. Will you be better off in the long run if you just let them have it or if you let them off the hook?
There was actually a study done on this. Christian Today posted an article called, 4 Reasons Why Revenge Will Only Do Us More Harm Than Good. In this article they cited a study done by Kevin Carlsmith with students. He did this study using an investment game where the students lost their money unjustly and had the opportunity to exact revenge. Those who took revenge felt worse than those who let the offense slide.
His reasoning was taking revenge causes us to ponder on the occurrence and the emotions tied to it longer. Letting it go releases us from those feelings of bitterness much sooner.
When we fail to forgive, we hold on to bitterness and anger. We suffer additional pain and suffering as a result of this. Often times the person who has offended us has moved on. They may have no idea that we continue to suffer, so we suffer alone.
If you think about it, it’s like being hurt twice. The first time you are hurt by the other person, but this additional pain and suffering is self-inflicted.
There is nowhere in the Bible that tells us we must fight our own battles. In fact we are told the battle belongs to the Lord just as the Lord spoke told king Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. We are told to be still and know that He is God in Psalm 46:10.
In our Scripture passage today we are told not to avenge ourselves but leave vengeance to the Lord. Are we just to let them off the hook for what they have done?
I have learned that God is not going to wrestle with me when it comes to vengeance or dealing with my enemies. I have learned He will handle it unless I insist on doing so. If you have ever played tug of war against a much stronger opponent, you know the end result is probably going to be you falling on your rear end.
God doesn’t play tug of war with us, but if we insist on pulling against Him, we will likely fail. It’s so much easier to give it all over to Him and let go of it. When we let go, we are placing it all in God’s hands. We are giving it all over to Him.
One of two things will happen. Either the offender will draw closer to God and become your brother and sister in Christ or they will refuse and God will deal with them. I can tell you I have seen God deal much more severely with these people than I ever would have.
God has also given me a heart of compassion when these people suffer. I can honestly say that a compassionate heart is much lighter than one that is filled with anger and bitterness.
We all pay when others hurt us, but we only hurt ourselves by holding on to anger and bitterness. Let go of it and give it all over to God. You can trust Him to take good care of it in due time.
It’s our job to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It’s His job to discipline them. We buy trouble for ourselves when we start trying to do His job. Leave vengeance to the Lord.
Have a great day!